UKC

hi, what is the best equipment to use to anchor yourself at top of sports route, i used 4 quickdraws (join 2 together to extend) and then rethread rope. is this ok to do as it was my first ever sport climb

thanks
lee

In reply to leehawkins:

Probably ok, but I prefer a screw-gate on a short sling (tied to belay loop in advance), and connect that to a common link on the lower-off ie the chain connecting the two bolts. If there's no chain, then I often use another quickdraw to connect one bolt to my sling so I'm connected to both bolts, and at least one on those connections always has a screwgate.

And always check and double check before you disconnect anything. Oh, and always pull through some rope and tie the bight onto a crab on your harness, in case you drop it during the rethreading process.

Further info here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=265

In reply to leehawkins: In reply to Fraser: thanks fraser, i done what you said with the slack and tie a knot so the rope dont drop. this was the only part of the climb (rethreading) i wasent 100% sure about and now ive done it i cant wait to climb more.

In reply to leehawkins:
Attach a sling and screwgate to your harness using a larks foot. bring one extra screw gate krab for change-over at the top.

The fastest and cleanest way is to pull up about one metre of slack and clove hitch this to the belay loop on your harness, this protects you from anchor failure via the last quickdraw before the anchor, and prevents you dropping the rope.

Untie completely the figure 8 or bowline with which you are tied in and pass the end of the rope through the two anchors and re-tie through your harness. the one metre of slack should be enough to thread the anchors unless the anchors are far away.

Undo the clove hitch and check the rope runs in a straight line from you, through the anchors and to your belayer. get your belayer to pull in tight on the rope and unclip the sling from the anchor and lower off.

This is much better and quicker than the method in the link, requires less rope and will result in a much smaller fall in the event of an anchor failure. Hope this helps!

In reply to leehawkins:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=265

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=212118

In reply to leehawkins:

The BMC have a video which shows this quite well, and shows both options:
http://www.thebmc.co.uk/how-to-lower-off-from-a-sport-climb

If the video isn't appearing in the webpage (doesn't for me) you can download it directly:
http://www.thebmc.co.uk/bmcNews/media/u_content/Media/technical_videos/lowe...